The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research

Edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber

Provides in-depth examples of how specific emergent technologies are practiced within both disciplinary and interdisciplinary environments

Examines the costs and benefits of utilizing new technologies on the research process as well as the potential misuse of these techniques for methods practices

The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research

Edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber

Description

Emergent technologies are pushing the boundaries of how both qualitative and quantitative researchers practice their craft, and it has become clear these changes are dramatically altering research design, from the questions researchers ask and the ways they collect data, to what they even consider data.

Gathering a broad range of new developments in one place, The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research offers comprehensive, up-to-date thinking on technological innovations. In addition to addressing how to effectively apply new technologies-such as the internet, mobile technologies, geospatial technologies (GPS), and the incorporation of computer-assisted software programs (CAQDAS) to qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches
to research projects-many chapters provide in-depth examples of practices within both disciplinary and interdisciplinary environments and outside the academic world in multi-media laboratories and research institutes. Not only an authoritative view of cutting-edge technologies and their applications, the Handbook examines the costs and benefits of utilizing new technologies on the research process, the potential misuse of these techniques for methods practices, and the ethical and moral dimensions of emergent technologies, especially with regard to issues of surveillance and privacy.

The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research is an essential resource for research methods courses in various fields, including the social sciences, education, communications, computer
science, and health services, and an indispensable guide for social researchers looking to incorporate emerging technologies into their methods and practice.

The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research

Edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber

Table of Contents

IntroductionEmergent Technologies in Social Research: Pushing against the Boundaries of Research Praxis, Sharlene Nagy Hesse-BiberPart One: Emergent Technologies in a Broad Social Research Context1. Possible Dreams: Research Technologies and Transformation of the Human Sciences, Edward J. Hackett2. To Tell the Truth: The Internet and Emergent Epistemological Challenges in Social Research, David J. Gunkel3. Methodological Challenges Posed by Emergent Nanotechnologies and Cultural Values, Barbara Herr Harthorn4. Under my Skin: The Ethics of Ambient Computing for Personal Health Monitoring, Göran Collste5. Ubiquitous Connectivity: User-Generated Data and the Role of the Researcher, Mariann HardeyPart Two: The Rise of InternetTechnologies and Social Research Practice6. Clickable Data: Hypermedia and Social Research, Bella Dicks and Bruce Mason7. Digital Ethnography and Emergent Technologies, Dhiraj Murthy8. New Fieldsites, New Methods: New Ethnographic Opportunities, Laura Robinson and Jeremy Schulz9. Online Focus Groups, David L. Morgan and Bojana Lobe10. Digital Repositories, Folksonomies and Interdisciplinary Research: New Social Epistemology Tools, Karim Gherab-MartinPart Three: Emergent Data Collection Methods: New Forms of Data Production11. Studying Mailing Lists: Text, Temporality, Interaction and Materiality at the Intersection of Email and the Web, Anne Beaulieu and Mette Terp Høybye12. On-line Data Collection and Data Analysis using Emergent Technologies,
Michael Dal13. Collaborative Research Tools: Using Wikis and Team Learning Systems to Collectively Create New Knowledge, Robert Fitzgerald and John Findlay14. Using Emerging Technologies in Focus Group Interviews, Kathryn Moyle15. Toward Experimental Methods in Collaborative Computing Research, Gregorio Convertino and John M. Carroll16. Emergent Technologies for Assessing Social Feelings and Experiences, Albertine Visser and Ingrid Mulder17. Data Mining and Research: Applied Mathematics Reborn, Bert Little18. Knowledge Mining and Managing: Emergent Tools and Technologies in Web-Based Intelligent Learning Environments, Nittaya KerdprasopPart Four: Audio-Visual, Mobile, and Geospatial Technologies' Impact on the Social Research Process19. The Use of
Audio-Visuals in Surveys, Tom W. Smith and John Sokolowski20. The Use of Mixed Methods Thinking in Documentary Development, John W. Creswell and Bernard Rogers McCoy21. A New Way of Seeing and Being Seen: Digital Storytelling as an Emergent Method for Social Research and Practice, Aline Gubrium and K-C Nat Turner22. Mobile Phones as Sensors for Social Research, Nathan Eagle23. Fragments of Freedom: Making Sense of Implicit Data Sets, Geert de Haan, Sunil Choenni, Ingrid Mulder, Sandra Kalidien, and Peter van Waart24. Using Technology and the Experience Sampling Method to Understand Real Life, Anne Kellock, Rebecca Lawthom, Judith Sixsmith, Karen Duggan, Ilana Mountian, John T. Haworth, Carolyn Kagan, David P. Brown, John E. Griffiths, Jenny Hawkins, Claire Worley,Christina Purcell, and Asiya Siddiquee25. The Application of Spatial Analysis Technology in Social Science Research: Tools and Techniques, Steven J. Steinberg and Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg26. Methods, Examples and Pitfalls in the Exploitation of the Geospatial Web, Ross S. PurvesPart Five: The Impact of New Technologies for Studying Social Life in Naturalistic Settings27. Living Laboratories: Social Research Applications and Evaluation, Chris Fowler, Lindsay O'Neill, and Joy van Helvert28. The Digital Home: A New Locus of Social Science Research, Anne Holohan, Jeanette Chin, Vic Callaghan, and Peter Muhlau

The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research

Edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber

Author Information

Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. She is the author or editor of numerous books, including The Cult of Thinness, Working Women in America: Split Dreams, Feminist Perspectives in Social Research, Approaches to Qualitative Research, and Feminist Approaches to Theory and Methodology. She is co-developer of HyperRESEARCH, a software tool for analyzing qualitative data, and a transcription software tool, HyperTranscribe (www.researchware.com).

Contributors:

Anne Beaulieu is Senior Research Fellow at the Virtual Knowledge Studio (VKS) of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam, and Deputy Programme Leader of the VKS.

David P. Brown is Administrator for the Research Institute for Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.

Patrick Brundell is a Research Fellow at the School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, UK.

Victor Callaghan is Professor of Computer Science, leader of the Inhabited Intelligent Environments Group and Director of the Digital Lifestyles Centre at Essex University.

John M. Carroll is Edward Frymoyer Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Pennsylvania State University.

Jeannette Chin is a senior researcher with the Inhabited Intelligent Environments Group at Essex University.

Sunil Choenni, is head of the department of Statistical Information Management and Policy Analysis of the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and a research professor of human centered ICT at the School for Communication, Media and Information Technology, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam.

Göran Collste is Professor of Applied Ethics at the Centre for Applied Ethics, Linköping University in Linköping, Sweden.

Gregorio Convertino, is a Research Scientist in the Augmented Social Computing area at the Palo Alto Research Center, CA.

John W. Creswell, is a Professor of Educational
Psychology in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Michael Dal is an associate professor and head of Centre for Research in Foreign and Second Language Learning at The School of Education at Iceland University.

Geert de Haan, is a lecturer of media technology and a researcher in the human centered ICT group at the School for Communication, Media and Information Technology, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Norman K. Denzin is Distinguished Professor of Communications, College of Communications Scholar, and Research Professor of Communications, Sociology and Humanities, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Bella Dicks, PhD, is
Reader in Sociology at Cardiff University, South Wales, UK.

Nathan Eagle is a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Omidyar Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute.

John Findlay, is CEO of Zing Technologies, a technology company from Sydney, Australia, which makes team meeting and learning systems.

Robert Fitzgerald, is Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Education at the University of Canberra, Australia and Senior Research Fellow in the Australian Institute for Sustainable Communities.

Chris Fowler, is a Professor in the Institute of Distance Education (IDE) at the University of Swaziland.

Karim
Gherab-Martín, in theoretical physics and PhD in philosophy of science and technology, is currently a visiting scholar and teaching fellow in Philosophy at Harvard University.

John Griffiths is a Lecturer in Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.

Aline Gubrium, is Assistant Professor of Community Health Education in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

David J. Gunkel, is Presidential Teaching Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University.

Edward J. Hackett, is a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, with appointments in the School of Sustainability and the Consortium for Science
Policy and Outcomes.

Jennifer Hawkins, is an Associate Lecturer in Education on Inclusion and Disability Studies Courses at Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK.

John T. Haworth, is currently a Visiting Research Fellow in the Research Institute for Health and Social Change, at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.

Dr Mariann Hardey, is Associate Director for the Centre of Communication Science and Lecturer in Social Media Marketing, Department of Economics and Finance, Durham University, United Kingdom.

Barbara Herr Harthorn, is Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology and Director of the NSF Center for Nanotechnology in Society at University of California at Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara,
CA.

Sharlene Janice Nagy Hesse-Biber is Professor of Sociology and the Director of Women's Studies at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She has published widely on the impact of sociocultural factors on women's body image, including her book Am I Thin Enough Yet? The Cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity (Oxford, 1996), which was selected as one of Choice magazine's best academic books for 1996.

Anne Holohan is Lecturer in Sociology and a Research Associate of the Institute for International Integration at Trinity College Dublin.

Mette Terp Høybye is a Post.Doc. researcher at the Department of Psychosocial Cancer Research of the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, and an external lecturer at the Institute of Anthropology of
the University of Copenhagen.

Carolyn Kagan is Professor of Community Social Psychology and Director of the Research Institute for Health and Social Change at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Sandra Kalidien, is a researcher at the department of Statistical Information Management and Policy Analysis of the Research and Documentation Center (WODC) of the Ministry of Justice, the Hague.

Nittaya Kerdprasop, is associate professor and deputy director of Data Engineering and Knowledge Discovery (DEKD) research unit at the School of Computer Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology in Thailand. Dawn Knight, is Research Associate on the ESRC funded
DReSS Project (Understanding New Forms of Digital Record project) at the University of Nottingham, UK.

Rebecca Lawthom, is a Reader in Community Practice in the Psychology and Social Change Division at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, U.K.

Yu-Wei Lin, is Research Associate at the Coordinating Hub of the ESRC-funded National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) at the University of Manchester, UK.

Bojana Lobe completed her PhD in Social Sciences Methodology at the University of Ljubljana in 2006.

Bruce Mason, is a Research Fellow in Qualitative Research at The University of Edinburgh, UK.

Bernard Rogers McCoy, is Associate Professor of Journalism in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

David L. Morgan is a University Professor at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where he is also affiliated with the Department of Sociology.

Ilana Mountian, is an honorary research fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, U.K.

Dr Kathryn Moyle is an
Associate Professor at the University of Canberra, in Canberra, Australia, and is the Director of the Secretariat for the Australian Information and Communications Technology Education Committee (AICTEC).

Peter Mühlau is Lecturer in Sociology and a Research Associate of the Institute for International Integration at Trinity College Dublin.

Ingrid Mulder is an associate professor of design techniques at ID-StudioLab, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of Delft University of Technology in Delft and a research professor of human centered ICT at the School for Communication, Media and Information Technology, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Dhiraj Murthy is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Bowdoin College.

Lindsay O'Neill is a PhD candidate in the department of Sociology at the University of Essex.

Christina Purcell is a Doctoral Researcher at the Research Institute for Business andManagement, Manchester Metropolitan Business School, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Ross Purves, is a Lecturer in Geography at the GIScience Centre of the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Jeremy M Schulz is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Asiya Siddiquee is a Lecturer in psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.

Judith Sixsmith is a Professor
at the Research Institute for Health and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, U.K.

Tom W. Smith, is Director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Society at the National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.

John Sokolowski is a Survey Director at NORC at the University of Chicago in the Public Health Research Department.

Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg is a Professor of Sociology and Director of Community Research for the California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.

Steven J. Steinberg is a Professor of Geospatial Analysis and Director of the Institute for Spatial Analysis at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.

K.C. Nat Turner is Assistant
Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture in Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies at the University of Massachusetts School of Education in Amherst, MA.

Joy van Helvert is a principal researcher (inter-disciplinary) at the University of Essex.

Peter van Waart is lecturer of experience branding and a researcher in the human centered ICT group at the School for Communication, Media and Information Technology, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam.

Albertine Visser is an interaction designer and usability expert at the Belastingdienst CKC (Dutch Tax and Customs Administration - Center of Knowledge and Communication) in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Claire Worley is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan
University, Manchester, UK.

The Handbook of Emergent Technologies in Social Research

Edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber

Reviews and Awards

"This is a path-breaking examination of the emerging social media technologies and their impact on critical qualitative methodologies. Sharlene Hesse-Biber presents a comprehensive framework for interpreting and using these new discourses. The chapters are clearly written, and very accessible to students. This book lays the foundation for the generation of scholars who want to take these emergent technologies to the next level."--Norman K. Denzin, College of Communications Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign